Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Chaos Space Marines (section)

==Detachments and Formations==

With Traitor's Hate and Black Crusade, Chaos Space Marines have 10(!) different detachment of Formations to play with. However, unlike the Space Marines and their variant detachments in Codex: Angels of Death, most of the detachments are very similar to one another; other than the Thousand Sons Grand Coven and the Black Legion Speartip, '''every''' Chaos detachment follows the same general template, with one or two modifications on top. Rather than listing each and every detachment in full, this article will list out the "main" template for a Chaos detachment, and any major differences ("Iron Warriors: They're like any other Legion, except they can take Fortification Auxiliaries"). Also note that depending on your detachment, certain formations or choices will let you substitute your Lord or Sorcerer for an appropriate Special Character. 

===Basic Chaos Detachment===
Other than the Black Legion and Thousand Sons detachments, '''every''' Chaos Detachment will have the below in common, unless stated otherwise:
(As a fun little aside, due to RAW, Crimson Slaughter and the old Black Legion supplement state that any formation may be declared as belonging to them, while traitor legions scales this up to detachments. Thus, it is, RAW at present, possible to have a Black Legion or Crimson Slaughter formation within a Traitor Legions Decurion. While taking a Black Legion formation within another detachment is only really viable with Thousand Sons (As BL traitor legions overrules the old supplement), this does open up interesting variations with Crimson Slaughter (e.g. Take a relic burdened Chaos Lord as a 'Lord of the Legion' while the rest of the detachment belongs to a formation with actually good Legion rules.) 

UPDATE:- GW actually lists the internal formations of a Decurion as detachments now, rather than formations. And, rules as written, nothing says that all the sub-detachments have to have the same legion rules. Expect FAQ, or agree with tournament organisers beforehand, but if ok, this is very valuable, as some legion rules are excellent for certain detachments (Thousand Sons= Great for Terminator Annihilation Force, sucks for Chaos Warband/Lost and the Damned. Alpha legion rocks for Lost and the Damned, but is less great for basically any other formation, due to lack of beneficial rules.) General trend in this anons local area is this is fine for Black Crusade detachment, but iffy with Legion Specific detachments.
====Command(0-4)====
*'''Lords of the Black Crusade:''' A Chaos Lord, Sorcerer, Dark Apostle, or a Daemon Prince. 

====Core (1+)====
*'''Chaos Warband:''' This is a core formation not only for Black Crusade, but also for all Legion-specific detachments except Black Legion Speartip and Thousand Sons Grand Coven. The Chaos Warband is fairly simple: You take 1 Chaos Lord, an optional Chaos Sorcerer, 2-6 Chaos Space Marine Squads, 1-3 squads of Chosen/Terminators/Possessed, 1-3 squads of Bikers/Raptors/Warp Talons, and 1-3 Helbrutes/Havoc Squads. You can also take any of the named characters from the main codex in those first two slots, which is a moot point for most Traitor Legion detachments since they disallow unique units. The entire formation gets ''Objective Secured'', and the ''Favored Scions'' rule, meaning that anytime a character from this formation rolls for a Chaos Boon as a result of Champion of Chaos ''(this explicitly includes the "free" bonus granted by Path to Glory but <u>does not include the rolls from</u> from Gifts of Mutation/Boon of Mutation)'', the character may roll twice and apply either or both results. 
**'''Summary:''' This is the formation you take if you want to play Chaos Space Marines as actual Chaos Space Marines. Favored Scions lets you either sacrifice rank-and-file Champions hoping for Princes or those-that-must-not-be-named, or buff your Lord to truly frightening levels. However, this pales in comparison to the universal Objective Secured bonus. That Biker Lord of Nurgle? He has it. That "throwaway" Rhino w/ Havoc Launcher you bought for a unit of Autocannon Havocs, so you have a "budget" Typhoon Speeder equivalent? It has it. Those units of MSU Bikers or Terminators? They have it.
**'''Comparison with the Gladius:''' The Chaos Warband can be viewed as the traitorous version of the Battle Demi-Company. When Traitor's Hate first came out, the initial reaction was negative: The Battle Demi-Company also gets universal Objective Secured, but grants a turn of improved shooting; furthermore, the Gladius free transports overshadowed the bonuses gicen by said Gladius. However, what the Chaos Warband lacks in "free" points it makes up for in relative flexibility: Whereas the Demi-Company <u>must</u> take exactly three Tactical Squads, exactly 1 Fast Attack, and exactly one unit of Devastators (of Power Armor or Centurion flavor), the Warband lets you take a greater ratio of Fast Attack/Heavy Supports. While the Loyalists must take a mandatory Chaplain to fully benefit from the Battle Company, you get an optional Sorcerer who can provide far more utility throughout the game. The Chaos Warband also allows for Objective Secured Terminators(buying Objective Secured Land Raiders of course), which can be a game-changer if your opponent doesn't have enough anti-armor, and is something loyalists can't do at all.
**'''Drop Assault:''' If you're playing with Forgeworld Chaos Marines, Chosen and Helbrutes can take Dreadclaws ''(RAW deepstrike disables Daemonic-bullshit from eating the contents; furthermore, FW has sent multiple emails confirming this)'' as dedicated transports. Drop in, assault out of your delicious skimmers turn 2, then run around and cap objectives with your '''ObSec''' claws.
** This formation, while simple, can be used with the legion rules and legion detachments to create hilarious combos. Run this with the Death Guard Vectorium. On top of your basic marines (and just about everything else not being a vehicle) becoming non-poisonous plague marines for 2/3rds of the cost, you retain Objective Secured and gain rerolls to 1's on FnP. Just watch as your opponent tears his hair out as he just finishes dealing with your T6 FnP bikers only to realize that he has to now shift your T5 Terminators with FnP off of a point. Or run it with the Alpha Legion Insurgency Force and have everything but your Havocs/Helbrutes and Fast Attack infiltrate on top of objectives while having Shrouded for a whole turn (since Chosen do not occupy the same spot as Chaos Marines, you can have effectively up to 9 units that infiltrate all over the board. All of whom have Objective Secured).

====Auxiliary(1+)====
You will notice that several of these Formations have a mandatory Warpsmith tax. Some people like 'em, some people don't. Good luck trying to make them work.

*'''Cult of Destruction:''' The first of the "Warpsmith" formations. 1-3 Warp Smiths and 3-5 units of Obliterators or Mutilators in any combination. In exchange for this, the formation gets a rule called '''Empyrionic Guidance Rituals:''' At the start of this turn, each Warpsmith may "guide" a unit of Mutilators/Obliterators from this formation within 8": The Obliterators may shoot twice (using different shooting weapons) that turn, or the Mutilators may make two "immediate" sets of close combat attacks this turn with different weapons.
**'''Summary''': If you try running this formation to get MOAR DAKKA out of your already awesome obliterators, you're going to be disappointed. The Warpsmith (you really don't have practical reason to run more than one) is a pretty hefty tax for just 3 extra shots, and the actual rules for Empyrionic Guidance Rituals are very restrictive. Your Warpsmiths have to be within 8" of your Obliterator/Mutilator unit at the ''start'' of the turn to guide them, meaning not only can you not "move" your Warpsmith in range, but you also would not be able to use Empyrionic Guidance Rituals on any units that arrived from Reserves/Deep Strike. Unlike many "Fire Twice" Formation benefits, your Obliterators cannot split their fire against different units, while their weapon cooldown restrictions remain in full effect.
*'''Favoured of Chaos:''' A Daemon Prince leads 3-5 units of Possessed. While within 12" of the Prince, all Possessed automatically receive all 3 Mutation rewards at once. While you might be thinking "Run this as a Crimson Slaughter formation for Shrouded Beast Possessed with Storm Shields," 1)Crimson Slaughter doesn't get Daemon Princes RAW and 2) the Crimson Slaughter Vessels of Chaos rule doesn't actually work due to the mutations only applying in the Fight sub-phase.
**The Possessed in this formation, while the bonus is active, have 3 base attacks, S5 AP3 shred. They have I5 but no grenades. They are actually superior to Warp Talons and Vanguard Veterans, except for a major problem: their lack of jump packs. The question when using this formation should be "how do I protect these guys from shooting or increase their speed?" The Daemon Prince has access to many artifacts and psychic powers that answer this problem.
*'''Fist of the Gods:''' The second Warpsmith Formation, this time he leads 3-5 units of either Land Raiders, Predators, or Vindicators. All vehicles within 12" of the Smith have a 6++, and the Warp Smith has +1 to his repair attempts. Unfortunately thanks to the draft FAQ, AoE abilities do not extend beyond the hull of a transport vehicle unless it explicitly says they do, so keep that Warpsmith following the tanks around on foot. And it's that last sentence that summarizes the main issue with the Formation; unlike Loyalist Techmarines / Iron Priests, Warpsmiths cannot take Bikes, and are stuck footslogging it, meaning their own effective threat range remains...questionable to say the least. More than anything, this formation is for Iron Warriors players that want to mass Vindicators, as their detachment's ability to grant re-roll scatters to all Ordnance weapons makes them deadlier as a result! Otherwise, you're probably best skipping this formation.
**Note: RAW, the formation needs a minimum of a Warpsmith and three UNITS of tanks. This means, if you really felt like blowing a ton of points, you could field squadrons of Vindicators or Predators as individual units. With the new Squadron bonuses provided by Traitor's Hate, this could be interesting. Just don't expect it to be competitive whatsoever.
*'''Heldrake Terror Pack:''' 2-4 Heldrakes. All enemy units within 12" of 2 Heldrakes suffer -1Ld, 3 Heldrakes take -2Ld, and 4 Heldrakes -3Ld. Also all Turkeys deal D6 Vector Strike hits on all units which are Pinned, Falling Back, or gone to ground. This is extremely situational, as the only way to pin troops in your Movement Phase is either to destroy their transports in said Movement Phase (meaning Vector Strikes, Ramming, or the Terminator Annihilation Force), or use an Emperor's Children Terminator Annihilation Force Lord/Sorcerer with the Bolts of Estatic Vexation...can you say extreme edge-case?. That being said, if you were already going to bring 2 Heldrakes, you might as well take this. Good way to keep your fast attack slots free (if you're running a CAD) while gaining bonuses (though admittedly useless ones).
**One decent combo to consider is to fly these guys close to a Raptor Talon formation. If two units from the Talon charge a enemy unit they get -2LD. Coupled with the LD debuffs from the drakes circling overhead, you can really go a long way to guarantee the enemy breaks. Combos well with the Night Lords legion bonuses.
*'''Helforged Warpack:''' The last of the Warpsmith formations, this one might actually be the best one. This time the Warpsmith tags along with 3-5 Helbrutes, Maulerfiends, Forgefiends, or Defilers in any combination. The Warpsmith lets vehicles re-use Daemonforge multiple times as long as he's alive (Maulerfiends with infinite Daemonforges are potentially quite scary), while you get to nominate one vehicle in the formation to be the Warpack Alpha. The Alpha becomes a Character and gains a 4+ Invulnerable Save, and should that model be destroyed, all other nearby models gain Rage.
**'''Summary:''' This formation is great. The Warpsmith tax is almost nonexistent with how you field this formation. but unlike the other formations the warpsmith puts in serious work here. Tired of your maulers and brutes being turned into paperweights after one lucky pen roll? Warpsmith has got you covered and he's not limited by range, so you can pop the smith in a unit of Cultists and call it a day while your walkers parade onward. The ability to give one Maulerfiend/Helbrute the Character Status has some amusing implications too; it's fairly common for Bike armies or similar armies to give Meltabombs to their sergeants in case they need to help finish off a Knight or other similar target, and you gain the ability to challenge those characters out of their unit as a result. The Helbrute also benefits the most from gaining a 4+ invuln save, since it doesn't have a 5+ already like the Maulerfiend or Forgefiend. Take a Helbrute for an alpha and pair him with two Maulerfiends. If they ignore the brute it walks over to their transports and punches them to death. If they focus the brute then the maulers get rage, and there are few things scarier than maulers with +2 attacks running you down and shredding all of your shiny toys. 
**'''Warlord Mech Shenanigans''': You can make the Warpack Alpha your Warlord if you really want to. While this is potentially risky due to the numerous ways to punk AV 12, it has the potential for all sorts of shenanigans, depending on your Legion and the detachment in question. The "safe" option would be an Alpha Legion Warpack, due to the resilience versus Slay the Warlord, but the '''funniest''' option is a Word Bearers Defiler. Whether your Defiler gets a free Boon from 8-fold Path, or it becomes a support-piece with Voice of Lorgar, a Defiler gains utility beyond being an overcosted Battle Cannon. The funniest option though is if it rolls Latent Psyker: think about it for a second. The Defiler has a Daemon so only suffers Perils on a double 6 when using Malefic, and it manifests Summoning on a 3+ due to being part of the Word Bearers. Add in 4 HP and It Will Not Die, alongside the Warpsmith potentially repairing it, and Daemon Summoner Defiler is one of the more comedic options to lead your army, provided you screen against Haywire of course. 
*'''The Lost and the Damned:''' 1 Dark Apostle leads 4-9 units of Chaos Cultists. The Dark Apostle gains a 6" bubble of Zealot to all LatD units. Every time a unit of cultists dies, you roll a die and on a 4+ they instead go into ongoing reserve and gain Outflank. Commander Chenkov called, he wants his Send in the next wave! rule back in. The Zealot bubble is of limited use, unless you take the Cultists in large blobs, which will be unwieldy. Their enhanced charge will still only be a load of Guardsmen attacks, and depend upon the survival of a mediocre character who has to take a forward position. They don't get Objective Secured, either, so unless you're getting mileage from their gimmicks they're worse than an Allied Detachment - which is the only way a Black Crusade will get a single Hell Blade to troll bombers & escort Dreadclaws. You could also turn them into zombies if you brought Typhus, which will free them from the Apostle, give them feel no pain, and, most importantly, allow you and your opponent to reenact the night of the living dead. You can recreate this effect for cheap in a Death Guard army by giving the Apostle the Poxwalker Hive. This will save you 90 points, but you'll only be able to turn a unit of Cultists into zombies one at a time, at the beginning of every turn. On the plus side, these units will regenerate D3 zombies a turn. Take Huron, infiltrate them, and create the ultimate regenerating tarpit, laughing at the fact that your opponent's lines are going to be stuck cutting their way through zombies for a really long time, while your army gets grabs all the objectives and gets into a better position.
*'''Raptor Talon:''' A Chaos Lord with a free Jump Pack takes 3-5 units of either Warp Talons or Raptors. They can charge the turn they deep strike, but always make disordered charges if they do, and enemy units suffer -2 to their Leadership if charged by 2 units from this formation. Think twice about taking the Mark of Khorne in this formation, since you won't get to apply the extra attack for Rage on the turn you make a Disordered Charge, though it may still be valuable to get a Relic on the Chaos Lord or access an Icon of Wrath. This may be the best formation in Traitor's Hate and it makes an already decent unit (the Raptors) much better. The key is to mix Warp Talons and Raptors - the Raptors bring flamers, meltas, and grenades, while the Warp Talons can blender most units in a fight. Even MSU Melta Deathsquads are better in this formation, since you can immediately reroll-charge in to shove a melta bomb up the exhaust of the tank your morons somehow failed to shoot up (with extreme HATRED too). They don't even take up valuable FA slots anymore.
**''Note:'' This formation is particularly interesting in a Black Legion Speartip. Declare the Lord as your Warlord and you can charge anything you want from Deepstrike turn 1, bonus points if you brought the Dimensional key. Seriously now, Night Lords Raptors play second fiddle to your black dudes. You trade Stealth (whoop-dee-doo), Night Fighting (yeah) and rerolling charges (which you already do for jump packs since you've just deepstruck anyway) for Hatred, Marks&Toys, and FREAKING ALPHASTRIKE. And remember that leadership debuff? Yea, they also get +d3 to sweep if they fail that. Seriously, if playing Black Legion speartip, take Raptor Talons as Auxiliaries, while keeping all terminators in your Warband and the Chosen of Abaddon
*'''Terminator Annihilation Force:''' A Chaos Lord or Sorcerer takes 3-5 units of Terminators, getting free Terminator Armor for his trouble. Other than the free armor, the formation's main draw is the '''Targeted For Annihilation''' special rule: Pick an enemy unit (hereby referred to as The Target). The formation gains Hatred against The Target, but the main draw is that whenever a unit from this formation arrives from Deep Strike Reserve, that unit may immediately get a free shooting attack against The Target. Because this shooting attack is in the Movement Phase, it does not prevent the unit from making another action in the Shooting Phase, which opens up additional shenanigans, but you can thankfully nominate a new enemy unit to be The Target once the original Target is appropriately annhilated.
**'''Summary:''' You take this formation if you want to run a non-Black Legion/Iron Warriors "Chaos Deathwing" army for fluffy games, or you want a more efficient Termicide game. The main drawbacks of this formation are that it doesn't do anything to mitigate scatter issues, the "Hatred" bonus is window dressing, and a "free round" of shooting doesn't do too much since Chaos Terminators usually only wield Combi-Weapons anyway! That said, the ability to shoot your opponent in the Movement Phase opens up the door to assorted shenanigans. You can guarantee that your Terminators get a round of shooting off without being shot by Interceptor weapons. You can shoot a Knight in an exposed arc before it gets the chance to reposition its Ion Shield. You can run a unit of 4, firing 2 Combi-Plasmas at one unit and 2 at another unit, or you could play it safe and Run after firing at The Target (Word Bearers and Black Legion can do this better due to Crusader). And of course, you can give your Lord/Sorcerer a Burning Brand (or one of the other shooty relics) to get two rounds off of shooty goodness. Running this formation as part of a Black Legion Speartip can lead to one of the more entertaining alpha-strike builds out there, though board presence will be an issue.
*'''Spawn:''' 1-3 units of Chaos Gribblies. 30 points bottom nets you the cheapest auxiliary choice there is. You are playing Champions of Chaos, so you've already got one, right?

===Iron Warriors Grand Company===
Like the basic Chaos Detachment, except they also have '''Strongholds of Chaos''' as an Auxiliary: 1-3 Fortifications, done and done. Not an actual formation, this still makes Iron Warriors currently the only Detachment of Formations in the game that can actually take Fortifications. The Grand Company has the following bonuses:
*'''Warsmith''': Reroll your Warlord Trait if rolling on the Iron Warriors table and this is your primary detachment.
*'''Masters of Annihilation''': Models from this detachment may re-roll scatter for Ordnance and Barrage weapons. Other than Defilers and Vindicators, the only sources of Barrage and Ordnance available to this detachment are through fortifications. Whether an Independent Character attached to an Artillery unit from Renegades and Heretics can reroll scatter is debatable.
*'''Intractable Brotherhood''': Non-Vehicles are Stubborn and get Fearless in Fortifications.
  
===Alpha Legion Insurgency Force===
The Insurgency Force has the exact same organization as a Basic Chaos Detachment, with no modifications otherwise. The Insurgency Force has the following bonuses:
*'''[[Alpharius|I Am Alpharius]]:''' Reroll your Warlord Trait if rolling on the Alpha Legion table and this is your primary detachment.You can do this multiple times when you get a new warlord.
*'''Hidden Deployment:''' All non-vehicle units get Shrouded during turn 1.
*'''Cult Uprising:''' While the book says that "Cultist units that are completely destroyed enter ongoing reserves on a 4+.", to use Cultists with this rule, you have to include the Lost and Damned Formation, as it is the only source of Cultists available to this Detachment, which RAW created a loophole that allowed for possible duplication of cultist units. 
**The current errata at https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Traitor_Legions_v1.1-1.pdf is a moderate nerf, where the Alpha Legion rule improves the base Cultist rule, just not at much: when you make the roll to respawn, you pass on a 3+ instead of a 4+.

===World Eaters Butcherhorde===
Like a basic Chaos detachment, except can take the '''Maelstrom of Gore''' as a core choice. You "could" take a '''Trinity of Blood''' as an Auxiliary choice, but then you're playing Apocalypse where almost anything goes.
*'''Maelstrom of Gore:''' You can summarize this formation in two words: Fast Berserkers. One Chaos Lord (or Khârn) with the Mark of Khorne (that gets his mark for free) joins 4-8 Squads of Khorne Berzerkers. They all gain Fleet and +3" to charge rolls, and once per game they can fight in the movement phase as if it were an assault phase if locked in combat, and enemy units cannot fight back. This formation first came out in Traitor's Hate where it ''could'' (and even then, that was a stretch) occasionally be argued for if you wanted Fearless Fleet troops. The problem is that while this is a Core formation for World Eaters, the Butcherhorde already allows all units to re-roll charge distances, making the Fleet bonus mostly redundant, and the World Eaters Legion grants Furious Charge and Fearless, removing most of the remaining reason to take Berzerkers, besides WS 5 or mass chainaxes (you don't want these). The Warband benefits far more, as Raptors/Bikes with the Mark of Khorne move faster all the time rather than just on the charge, while 5 Chosen of Khorne cost '''less''' than 5 Berzerkers while having '''more''' attacks. Amusingly enough, this formation you can take this as a Black Legion detachment as there is no "this is a World Eaters formation" restriction; you don't want to do this, however.
*'''Trinity of Blood:''' 3 Lords of Skulls or 3 Kytans (per the [https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/resources/fw_site/fw_pdfs/Warhammer_40000/Kytan_Daemon_Engine_of_Khorne.pdf Kytan rules]). That's right. They all have Rampage, all enemy units locked in combat with them suffer a number of S6 AP4 hits equal to the amount of models in the unit with ignores cover and soul blaze, and all shooting weapons have the twin-linked special rule if another Lord of Skulls from this formation shot at the same unit beforehand. This formation is so crazy expensive you'll probably never play it nor see it played, so go ahead and skip this one. Even the Kytan version.

In exchange, you get the following bonuses:
*'''Berzerker Lord:''' Reroll your Warlord Trait if rolling on the World Eaters table and this is your primary detachment.
*'''Blood-Mad:''' After seize the initiative, non-vehicle units entirely from the detachment may move 2d6, and non-vehicles and walkers re-roll failed charges.

Ever wanted to field khornate marines on foot with a charge threat of 36" or 39" with bezerkers? Well, now you can!
First you get the pre turn move of 2D6 due to the detachment. Then you'll have your normal movement of 6 for infantry increased to 9 if having a character with the talisman of burning blood in it. Then you charge with the normal 2D6" (which is rerollable) + another 3" due to the talisman of burning blood(if using the maelstrom of gore you get another +3" to charge). So turn 1 assault for infantry is minimum of 16", average of 26" and maximum of 36". For zerkers it's +3 to afore mentioned ranges. In addition if you're really set to have a first turn charge, you can always add in 1k sons allies with the Astral Grimoire to become jump infantry so increases the charge threat with another 6". Bezerkers charging possibly 45" is hilarious. Also note that the minimum charge range for infantry will be 22 making it an easy charge if both players deployed as close to each other as possible. 

Of course you can do this with lord on jug and bikes or that Sp.... But this actually makes Kharn and termie lord on foot not that bad for being slow. So no land raider needed to transport Kharn to be able to see combat. Also funny for khornate prince with wings, give him an artifact worth of him to wreck shit turn 1 if opponent is stupid enough to deploy on his deployment edge.

===Emperor's Children Rapture Battalion===
The Rapture Battalion is like the Basic Chaos Detachment, except you also get access to the Kakophoni as a Core:
*'''Kakophoni:''' Lucius or a Chaos Lord (with MoS and VotLW since EC detachment) joins 3-6 units of Noise Marines. They gain the Split fire rule, and all Sonic weapons gain Shred. If you take all 6 Noise Marine squads, all Sonic weapons get +1S.

The Rapture Battalion has the following bonuses:
*'''Lord of Hedonism''': Reroll your Warlord Trait if rolling on the Emperor's Children table and this is your primary detachment.
*'''[[Dark Eldar|Combat Drugs]]''': Used by any detachment that is an Emperor's Children Army. After deployment roll one d6 to see the bonus the entire detachment has (non-vehicle, sorry no coke-fueled Helbrutes).
*#+1WS. Army-wide WS5 ensures you are never hitting on less than a 4+, even against WS10.
*#+1BS. BS5 Noise Marines with Shred and Split-fire can bring the pain.
*#+1I. You're already I5/6 due to Mark of Slaanesh, but could help when going up against Eldar/Dark Eldar/Harlequins/any unit that can be Sweeping Advanced. Or if you go against Death Guard since they have ways to easily reduce initiative as well now.
*#+1S. Great all around, but don't think this gives you S10 powerfists (it gives you S9).
*#+1T. Pretty damn good. Best result you could hope for. If you roll this while your warlord is on a bike, laugh as you now best the Nurgle Bike Lord with FnP 4+ ''and'' T6. Even T5 and FnP 4+ is ridiculously tough to shift. 
*#+1A. Extra attacks on squads of Termies and melee-built Noise Marines are always welcome.
Ultimately, what limits CD's usefulness is that it is one roll for the army, and 4/6 of the options are melee specific, while only 1 is ranged specific for synergy with Sonic weapons, and the last improves any army. Make 1 bad roll and the entire army will suffer, but this is only a real problem if you overspecialize your army for one task - have both shooting and melee to guarantee you can't be screwed, or commit to close combat and count on the 5/6 chance to get something nice.

===Death Guard Vectorium===
The Death Guard is like the Basic Chaos Detachment, except you can also take the Plague Colony as a core:
*'''Plague Colony:''' 1 Chaos Lord with Mark of Nurgle and VotLW (as per Death Guard Detachment) or Typhus leads 3-7 units of Plague Marines. When enemy models come within 7" of a unit from this formation, they take -1 WS and Initiative, and if you took all 7 Plague Marine units they reduce their Toughness by 1 as well. The most immediate use for this formation is to run your Plague Marines as a "forlorn hope" as the Vectorium's FNP bonuses combined with the debuff auras hint at wanting to get stuck in. Sadly the bonuses only last in Assault in the fight sub-phase, making the formation that much weaker overall.

The Vectorium has the following bonuses:
*'''Plague Lord''' Reroll your Warlord Trait if rolling on the Death Guard table and this is your primary detachment.
*'''Disgustingly Resillient''' Re-roll 1s on FNP.
*'''Cloud of Flies''' If targeted from more than 18" away, units have Stealth.

===Night Lords Murder Talon===
The Murder Talon is like the Basic Chaos Detachment, except the Raptor Talon is available as a Core choice instead of an Auxiliary. The Murder Talon has the following bonuses.
*'''Talon Master''': Reroll your Warlord Trait if rolling from the Night Lords table.
*'''Strike Fast, Strike Hard''': Re-roll failed charges
*'''Nocturnal Warfare''': You may choose to force Night Fighting rules (no roll required); if you do, your non-vehicles get +1 to cover saves in addition to the Stealth that either Night Fighting or their Legion bonus ''"In Midnight Clad"'' normally confers. (Note, again, that this bonus is separate from Stealth or Shrouded, so stack em' high lads.)

===Word Bearers Grand Host Detachment (Traitor Legions)===
The Grand Host is like the Basic Chaos Detachment, except the Lost and the Damned is a Core Choice instead of an Auxiliary. The Grand Host has the following bonuses:
*'''The Coryphaus''': Reroll your Warlord trait if rolling from the Word Bearers table.
*'''Dark Crusaders''': Non-vehicles have (Gasp) Crusader. This helps your melee units reach the enemy quicker, or it helps Cultists space out to lock objectives faster. Units that already have fleet will consistently be running 5-6" a turn.
*'''The Eight-Fold Path''': Each turn one character gets a free Chaos Boon. However, you must choose a different character each turn. Note that this applies to any Friendly Character in the detachment, and not just those with Champions of Chaos, so you can risk your Warpack Alpha or Prince getting a roll if you really wanted to. Note that unlike '''Path to Glory''' in the Black Crusade Detachment, this benefit does NOT stack with Favored Scions, so be ready to accept some risk.

===Black Crusade Detachment (Traitor's Hate)===
'''Note:''' This Detachment is NOT included in Traitor Legions. If you want to run a Legion, its main benefit (Free Veterans of the Long War) is superfluous due to said Legions getting VOTLW for free anyway. You take this formation if you want to bring a Black Legion detachment but you want to maintain Objective Secured. This allows Black Legion to be run either hyper-aggressively, or relatively defensively. If you want to run Fabius or Huron, play hero-hammer with Path to Glory, run Special Characters from multiple Legions in the same detachment, or give Hatred (Imperium) to a Crimson Slaughter army, play this. It acts like a Basic Chaos Detachment with the following modifications:
* Lost and the Damned is a Core choice instead of an Auxiliary choice, and Maelstrom of Gore is a Core Choice.
* Lords of the Legion is a 0-5 Command Choice, with Dark Apostles as an option. You can take any Special Character in this Command Choice except Magnus, Cypher, or Bela'Kor.
* The Trinity of Blood is an Auxiliary choice, as is '''Veterans of the Legion:''' 1-4 units chosen from Khorne Berserkers, Plague Marines, Noise Marines or Thousand Sons, but no bonuses since it's not actually a formation.

The Black Crusade Detachment gains the following bonuses:
*Reroll your Warlord Trait if rolling on the Chaos Space Marines table and this is your primary detachment.
*All models in the detachment gain Hatred: Armies of the Imperium; anything from Space Marines to a lone Inquisitor to that Adamantine Lance.
*One model with the Champions of Chaos Rule gets a free roll on the Chaos boon table each turn, and unlike the similar ability the Word Bearers Grand Host gets, this works alongside Favored Scions. 
**'''Note:'''Combined with a World eaters lord in a warband that rolls Slaughterborn as his WL trait, this could make for VERY killy lord. Essentially you're getting +2A per turn, such that by turn 2 you have 8!? attacks BEFORE modifiers with gift of mutation. 
*Everyone who can take VotLW can do so for free, which means you get +1 LD for free on all your marines. This is superfluous if you're running a Legion, and Crimson Slaughter can't benefit from this except on Cult Marines, but everyone else benefits from this quite nicely.

===Black Legion Speartip Detachment (Traitor Legions)===
The Black Legion Speartip rewards alpha strikes, but does not grant objective secured to anything at all. On the flip side, running a CAD will work wonders because both Chosen, Terminators and by extension Land Raiders will have it! Keeping this in mind, there are tradeoffs to either army list, very much like the Horus Heresy Rites of War. The veterans of your Legion are mostly Luna Wolves, after all, and that carries over into their battle doctrine.
;'''Special Rules'''
*'''The Tip of the Spear:''' Warlord may re-roll on Black Legion Warlord Trait table.
*'''Heralds of the Black Crusade:''' Non-vehicle units have Fear and Crusader. Fear is mostly pointless, but Crusader can be useful for getting in position faster, and it synergizes with the Hounds of Abaddon's main trick.
*'''Speartip Strike:''' Deep Strike Units can start rolling to arrive from reserves on Turn 1. Warlord and his unit can auto-pass this roll in 1st turn if they are in DS reserve.

====Command (0-5)====
*'''The Bringers of Despair -''' One unit of Terminators plus Abaddon. The Terminators have WS and BS 5 and can re-roll one "Look Out, Sir" roll for Abaddon each phase. This replaces the old ability to upgrade a unit, and now the terminators get the stat upgrades for free, which is a welcome change.
**Note: Remember that Abbadon hands out a 12" bubble of Preferred Enemy (Space Marines.) If fighting loyalist scum of any flavor, give your Bringers of Despair combi-plasmas. Hitting on rerollable 2s will cut through those corpse-worshippers like a plasma knife through butter.
*'''The Chosen of Abaddon -''' 1-4 Chaos Lords or Sorcerers, plus a unit of Chosen or Terminators for each one. Each Sorcerer or Chaos Lord has to join one of the corresponding units of Chosen/Terminators (and can't leave). While the character remains attached to his unit, they get Fearless. Each Chaos Lord/Sorcerer in the formation gets to roll on the Boon table prior to deployment, re-rolling Spawnhood and Dark Apotheosis results. Not particularly useful, given that you give up flexibility for a crack at a bad chart of upgrades. This is where you get your extra terminators when playing Black Legion, BTW. 
*'''Cyclopia Cabal -''' THIS IS A GOOD ONE, and nasty with the new powers from Traitor's Hate. 3-5 Sorcerers. At the start of each psychic phase, you can have one sorcerer in the formation use a special psychic power called Shroud of Deceit. You get an additional warp charge die for each Sorcerer within 12" of the main caster (you can still allocate warp charges to it as normal, though you do not have to) and it's a warp charge 3 power. Shroud of Deceit targets a non-vehicle ''enemy'' unit that isn't locked in combat within 30". You can immediately make a shooting attack with that unit as though it were a part of your army. It's a pretty neat power, and super-useful against the Tau and their Riptides (good luck trying to get it off against Eldar though, lol). One recent tournament strategy is to add a Cabal to a Daemon army. Five ML3 psykers, on top of Fateweaver and Pink Horrors, to generate 24 dice per turn. Nuts.
*'''Lord of the Legion -''' A Chaos Lord(can be Abaddon), Sorcerer, Daemon Prince or Dark Apostle. Take this option if you just want the HQ with no added formation tax.

====Core (1+)====
*'''Black Legion Warband -''' One Chaos Lord, 0-1 Sorcerer, 2-5 units of Chosen or Chaos Space Marines in any combination, 1-3 units of Terminators or Possessed in any combination, 1-3 units of Raptors, Bikes, or Warp Talons in any combination, 1-3 units of Havocs or Helbrutes in any combination. This is the core formation for the Speartip. Units in this formation roll twice when rolling for boons and can take either one or both of the results. Additionally, any time an enemy unit is completely destroyed by a unit in this formation in a phase, all of the other units in the formation can re-roll to hit and to wound rolls of 1 for the rest of the phase (note that this just means when a unit is finally completely removed from the table, per the rulebook definition of "completely destroyed"). The bonus roll on the boon table will often be irrelevant, but the other bonus is kind of cool.
**'''NOTE:''' Unlike the other legions this uses the Black Legion Warband and not the "normal" one. That means that a Black Legion Speartip doesn't have a single Objective Secured unit since it can't take a Chaos Warband as an auxiliary either. This is a big disadvantage over other demi-company type formations. However given that this is meant to be a speartip formation, ergo you want to be the aggressor, losing objective secured isn't as big of a hindrance as you may think.
**'''Alternate Opinion''': This formation is actually pretty good. The key is to activate units in the right order to get the sweet Preferred Enemy for all the army; simply destroying a transport with some Autocannon Havocs can make your Plasma Chosen so much better. Or your suicide terminators popping a tank making your Chaos Lord on Steed outflanking with plasma Raptors ready to ruin the day. Or both! In general if you like to play with special weapons, this formation can help you a lot. Also, remember that without objective secured, Havocs are just CSM with more weapons. Use them if you feel the need for ablative wounds and feel free to go heavy on special weapons.
*'''The Hounds of Abaddon -''' This is a pretty solid formation. You take 1 Chaos Lord, 1-3 units of Berzerkers, 1-3 units of Chaos Space Marines, and 1-3 units of Bikes/Raptors/Warp Talons. The entire formation gets the Mark of Khorne for free; this means you can have 13-point Marines with Leadership 10, Hatred(Everything), and Rage...not bad at all! Once per game, you can declare a massed assault with this formation to run and charge in the same turn. As if that's not enough, any time you roll an 8 or more for charge distance with a unit in this formation, that unit gets +1 Strength until the end of the Assault phase, and this is where the formation can snow-ball into something truly frightening; the Icon of Wrath is highly recommended for units in this formation, as not only would the re-rolls help you maximize the chances of getting 8, but the Furious Charge would stack on top; a unit of 5 regular Marines from this formation would cost 100 points in exchange for making 20 S5 attacks on the charge, with a good chance of those attacks being S6 instead. Note that this can give a Lord with AoBF strength 8 on the charge, allowing him to ID.
**''Interesting obeservation:'' This formation has a few interesting quirks. Both lords and champions can have S10 powerfists, and considering they have rage means that a champion with LC/PF has 5 attacks of either strength 10 AP2 or S6 AP3, shred. And since they have hatred, they have the equivalent of WS5, meaning these champions are essentially budget chaos lords. A termielord with Lc/chainfist has 6 S10 AP2 armourbane attacks. So for only 2 points more you can give your lord a better Gorefather that doesn't take up a relic slot.And technically, these csm can be better chosen. With the savings you could buy them CCW weapons. What you get is 17 point chosen that trade 3 special weapons for +1-2 strength and re-rollable charges. And run & charge once per game.

====Auxiliary (1+)====
*'''The Lost and the Damned, Helforged Warpack, Cult of Destruction, Fist of the Gods, Raptor Talon, Terminator Annihilation Force, Chaos Sp-GRUGHGLGL!!!-''': See their entries in the Basic Chaos Detachment
*'''Daemon Engine Pack -''' One Warpsmith and 2 Forgefiends/Maulerfiends, in any combination.  At the start of each shooting and assault phase you can have one of the fiends within 12" of the Warpsmith use his WS or BS for that phase instead of its own. In practice, this bonus works better for running dual Forgefiends, since being able to get 5 BS is a much bigger deal than 4 WS; this makes the Hades Autocannons that the Forgefiends can have much more useful, since now they'll hit with most of their shots. You can either "cycle through" the Fiends, to combo Daemonforge with improved BS, or use it alongside moving on separate flanks to force enemy Knights into a "no-win" situation regarding where to use their Ion Shields. Also at the start of the game, you nominate a single enemy character and the Forge/Maulerfiends get Preferred Enemy against that character, plus if they kill him, the the model that did so regains a hull point.

====Standalone formations====
*'''The Tormented -''' 1 Prince and 2-5 units of possessed. The possessed get +1 WS and initiative as well as rending, and hatred since they have to be Black Legion. If they stray too far from their prince, they have to take a leadership test at the start of turn (unless in combat) and if failed, move D6 instead of 6. Unlike the favoured, their buffs are *always* up and prince thing is really a non-issue as it is 18 inch and even then they have Ld10 so it has a low risk of failure and the penalty isn't even that big. This formation makes possessed pretty freaking brutal. No, seriously. Forget the favoured. A unit of khorne possessed can generate enough wounds to kill even a wraith knight on the charge. Or a knight before it can do diddly squat. Never mind buffing them with assorted powers. All marks have something to offer, but MoK plays nicest with rending and anti-tank due to every 6 being an auto glance even on AV13 (with icon of wrath). MoK(+Icon) on a 10-man unit gives you 40 S6 rending attacks on the charge at initiative 5, while hitting on 3's, re-rollable. The rest of the table is pure icing on the cake at that point. And you need one less unit compared to the favoured formation, making it cheaper to boot. They also get better yet vs IoM armies thanks to endless hatred.
**''Important-'' While that offensive is cool and all, they have a huge problem, several actually. They're still slow, have no grenades and are still pretty frail outside of combat. So like the favoured formation it doesn't really fix possessed in any meaningful way, but if you do want to take possessed, this is the way to go.

===Thousand Sons Grand Coven Detachment (Wrath of Magnus/Traitor Legions)===
The Thousand Sons Grand Coven is is meant to buff Rubric units/Psykers to be more viable, though the actual results are...questionable. The formation bonuses are:
*'''Lord of Fallen Prospero:''' ::Your Warlord gets to re-roll his Warlord Trait if he rolls on the Tzeentch Warlord Table. This table is arguably a lot better than the vanilla Chaos one, so may be worth considering.
*'''Masters of Arcane Knowledge:''' All Psykers in the detachment may cast an additional power beyond their Mastery Level. The most immediate ways to use this are lucking out and getting the Warlord Trait that lets you know an additional Psyker Power, or using Ahriman or Magnus, the former due to knowing more powers than his Mastery Level and the latter due to the Black Staff. Worst comes to worst, this also lets your Aspiring Sorcerers pop Force to improve their unit's invulnerable save while still being able to cast their one Tzeentch power they rolled or the Primaris. Additionally, all Psykers in the detachment may re-roll their result on Perils of the Warp. This one matters more, as extra insurance against accidentally frying your expensive Sorcerers is always nice.
**'''Favoured of Tzeentch:''' If you take the maximum number of units allowed for a formation (usually a commander + 9 units, because Tzeentch), every model in that formation may reroll all saving throws of 1. While for many formations this is excessively expensive, for others it allows for incredible durability.

====Command (0-4)====
*'''Rehati War Sect:''' Magnus the Red plus 3-9 ML3 units of either Tzeentch Daemon Princes or Exalted Sorcerers. The models in this formation ignore Line of Sight for casting powers. In addition, all models within 18" of Magnus manifest on a 3+. This formation tends to find more use in Chaos Daemon armies as a way to get Magnus into their army without actually having to include Thousand Sons.
**One of Traitor Legions' only Bikestar Formations.
*'''Ahriman's Exiles:''' Ahriman plus 3-9 Exalted Sorcerers. All models within 18" of Ahriman manifest on 3+.
**Another of Traitor Legions' only Bikestar Formations.
*'''Lord of the Legion:''' Magnus the Red, Ahriman, or a Sorcerer, Exalted Sorcerer, or Daemon Prince of Tzeentch.

====Core (1+)====
*'''War Cabal:''' Ahriman, a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch, a Sorcerer, or an Exalted Sorcerer with 1-3 more Sorcerers/Exalted ones lead 1-3 units of Rubric Marines and 1-3 units of Scarab Occult Terminators. Whenever a Psyker from this formation manifests a power, that Psyker (and the unit it's part of, should it be from this Formation) may reroll all 1s to-hit for the remainder of the turn. This formation is the "cheap" core of the two, and is probably what players will take just so they can run 3 units of Terminators with rerollable 2+ armor saves...
** '''Summary:''' This formation is probably the best core T-sons could ask for. rerolling 1s to hit is extremely useful for such a shooty army, and because literally every unit in this formation has a sorcerer leading it, you can consistently get rerollable 1's to hit every turn just by activating the sorcerers force weapons. Combine that with the bonus spell every sorcerer can cast from the detachment buffs, and you will be unleashing a LOT of DAKKA in the psychic & shooting phases to cover any shortcomings that may occur in close combat.
*'''Sekhmet Conclave:''' A sorcerer(can be exalted or Ahriman) or a Daemon Prince(can be Magnus), plus 3-9 units of SO Terminators. Any unit from this formation within 6" of 2+ of other units from this formation gains +1 Toughness (Mortarion is Jealous). This is what you want if you like Terminators, like being nearly impossible to kill, are sick of regular Rubrics being overcosted crap, or just don't want to paint very many models. You won't get the rerollable 2+ armor saves with this unless you take nine units of 5 terminators each plus an HQ, though, which is not going to happen in games under 2500 points.
**'''Quick Note:''' While it's true that this formation is extremely expensive, especially when trying to get the blessing of Tzeentch, it's not always needed, thanks to +1 toughness. Also, the toughness buff is applied to Magnus when in range of the termie honor guard which makes him TOUGHNESS 8 meaning he is '''COMPLETELY IMMUNE TO BOLTER FIRE''' AND strength 6 weapons only wound him on 6s, so suck it space elfs. Splinter rifles still wound him on 4+.

====Auxiliary (1+)====
*'''War Coven:''' 1 Tzeentch Daemon Prince, ES, or Sorcerer leads 3-9 more Sorcerers/Exalted Sorcerers. Pick one BRB Discipline at the start of the game, and all Sorcerers from this formation manifest Warp Charge for that Discipline on a 3+. This is basically your Librarius Conclave formation.
**Are you a bad enough dude to run the Terminator Tzeentchstar? Take ten regular Sorcerers in Terminator armor and enjoy your ten man invisible 4+ FNP  rerollable 2+/3++ teleporting witchfire spamming deathstar with two wounds apiece. Be sure to include the Seer's Bane and the Astral Grimoire to go fast and dominate in melee too. Warning: you won't have any points left over for actual units if you do this. (Amazingly unfriendly in 1750pts. You will utterly dominate the game, short of truly broken enemies, then lose because of objectives)
**One of Traitor Legions' only Bikestar Formations.

*'''Tzaangor Warherd:''' 1 Exalted Sorcerer/Sorcerer leads 3 units of Tzaangors plus an optional 6 more units of Tzaangors or the unnameable beasts. The entire formation gains Fleet, the Tzaangors may run and charge in the same turn, and should they roll a 9 or more for Charge distance, they gain +1 Strength and Initiative. Not bad at all. 

*'''Daemon Engines:''' Defiler, Forgefiend, Heldrake, Helbrute, Maulerfiend. Pick one. Not actually a formation. this is the closest thing to a spawn formation that T Sons get so if you want to go all in on your core choice, take a bare bones helbrute, maulerfiend or predator tank.

*'''Legion Armory:''' Grab either a Chaos Land Raider, or a unit of Predators, or Vindicators. Remember you can squadron if you don't want to give up first blood, but a Land Raider may work to cart around the expensive asses of the Scarab Occult Terminators.

===Dataslates===
*'''Wrathborn (Start Collecting! Chaos Space Marines)''' - 1 Terminator Chaos Lord, 1 unit of Chaos Space Marines, and 1 Helbrute. The Lord and all units within 12" of him gain Hatred. That's it.

*'''Fallen Champions:''' Cypher grabs up to 3 Chosen Squads as Fallen goons.  The Chosen aren't much more useful than normal, as they lose a lot of stuff to use.  However, their use shouldn't be to much more than to guard Cypher himself as he fucks with people's shit.
** The Chosen cannot take Artefacts, Rewards, Marks, or Transports.  He can take Icon of Vengeance though. And apparently the chosen can take power fists for 5 points.
** Chosen within 12" of Cypher uses his leadership.  They also grab ATSKNF.
** Enemy Dark Angels with Deathwing get Zealot against your entire army.

*'''Mayhem Pack:''' This formation of 3 Helbrutes gives them all IWND (AWWWW YEAAAAA), Deep-Striking, and a shared roll on the Crazed table, even if they've never been hit (Giving them a 2/3 chance of being rather useful, though it's still a crapshoot).  All-in-all, a rather decent way to boost their survivability <s>but not their usefulness.</s> FUCK THAT NOISE! Getting a dreadnought in close out of nowhere is one of the best uses of them in the loyalist army and this dataslate improves upon it tremendously by tripling the amount of dreadnought and making them harder to kill in the process! Then there's the crazed rule which makes shooting the brutes a dicey prospect. NOTE - although the brutes get to share a reserve roll AND a crazed roll every round, they are NOT a single vehicle squadron. This means that they won't deepstrike in the manner a terminator squad does, and you'll have to scatter each one of them separately - and you don't have to move them as one squadron either.
** Note - With the Errata boosting Helbrutes' attacks up to 4, this makes them even more effective as DISTRACTION CARNIFEXes. 4 attacks is enough to threaten most targets other than giant hordes (and in those cases, you have heavy flamethrowers) while being able to pack a ranged weapon allow the helbrutes to be effective 2/3rds of the time right after they drop and continue to threaten targets up until it dies. In addition, something few people realize is that this formation is essentially the Chaos Version of a Drop Pod Dread, but you do not need to pay the extra 35 points for a Drop Pod, which is a great boon for it's role as a Distraction (cheap, moderately hard to kill, and killy).
*** No deepstrike mitigation means they're still very unreliable. Add 1/3 chance of doing not what you want them to do each turn on top of that. Then again, you could take the risk and take two Mayhem Packs

*'''Helcult:''' A Helbrute joins 2 squads of cultists.  This gives the brute some walking meatshields, though their use is...debatable. This formation is useless now because only Troops in Combined Arms and Allied Detachments get Objective Secured - your units in Formations don't get it. Who cares if you have 20 (Two units of 35 means 70!) fearless T3, 6+ models when everything else is also scoring and it's too easy make enough of a dent in the cultists to contest or outright take whatever objective they were sitting on. But makes a great wall of tar-pitters and fire magnets regardless.
** The whole group gets Rage (When the Helbrute dies).  However, any rolls of 1 from the brute get transferred to anyone else within 6" of him.
** The cultists get the Fearless USR regardless of how far they're from giant hulk of Warp-machinery.  The moment he goes down, however, they exchange Fearless for Zealot. 
** If the cultists block any incoming fire for the Helbrute, the giant thing gains a 3+ Cover save.  Each successful save kills one of the cultists, no saves allowed. So totally worth it since you have 35 of the shlebs in front of him. Right?
** For added lulz, hide a warpsmith in with the cultists. There, you got yourself a reliable meat shield for both the Helbrute and a unit in which the smith can hide so he can repair any of the hits that actually make it to the Helbrute (assuming it doesn't kill it, that is).
** Give them the Mark of Nurgle for an extra slurpy tarpit. Also consider that Sonic Weapons ignore cover so they are a great walking buffer for your Noise Marines.

*'''Helfist(er) Murderpack:''' Out of the 5 Helbrutes in this formation, one of them must be designated a Champion, thus making them like a squad with a sergeant.  The Champion becomes a Character and gets the Aura of Dark Glory and the brutes within 6" can LOS! for the big guy.  The Champion also makes the entire squad choose what Crazed result they want instead of rolling it.  However, once he dies, not only does this Crazed selection end, but the others also get Rage.  While this sounds nice on paper, the issue is that they're still forced to footslog it all the way to the enemy, and a 5+ Invul and the ability to choose Fleet and Rage when they get hit is not going to help them out much with that. Can't really use this for insane helbrute dakka to double your shots every single turn, since only the 'brutes that have taken damage will be able to make use of the Crazed table. Bare in mind that you can technically abandon any Helbrutes affected by Fire Frenzy as they count as immobilized and according to the rules of the formation you can still pick their crazed result even when they are no longer part of the squad. This is a good way to bypass the sqaud having to all fire at the same unit.
*This formation is surprisingly good when you add in some protective wizardry. Or fly them across the table on top of a magic ruin.

*'''Kranon's Helguard:''' Chaos Lord, Chosen squad , Pack of Termies, Two mobs of Cultists, a pack of Raptors, a 'Brute, and a Land Raider.  Just from the DV starter kit and Crimson Slaughter Expansion.  It's decent, as it forces all units within 12" of one unit here to take -1 Ld, while anyone within 12" of two or more units take -1 BS, as well as giving Fear and Stubborn, but...just like the Unrelenting Hunt, it's absolutely not worth forking over all that cash for both kits.  Or even just the expansion.

*'''Kharn's Butcherhorde:''' Formation with Kharn (Shocking, right?), 4 CSM squads with the Mark of Khorne and 4 Khorne Berseker squads. They all get Adamantium Will and for every 6 to hit they get another attack (and yes, with another 6 you get another attack and so on). Then, if you get an 8 on the charge (beign the number of Khorne and all) you double the attack value on your models. It looks nice, but that's a lot of models. That's why it's called Butcherhorde and not Butchergroup. 

*'''Cult of Destruction (Apocalypse)''' This packs in at least a 3-man pack of both Obliterators and Mutilators.  If you get more Obliterators, you can gain a combined fire bonus ability.  Lascannons get 48", Strength D and AP1, Flamers become Hellstorm templates with AP3, and the Artillery gets 48", Strength D AP 4 apocalyptic blast.  Mutilators meanwhile get Furious Charge and get another attack per unsaved wound.

*'''Heldrake Fear Squadron (Apocalypse)''' 3-5 of the Drakes get grouped up, and they get effectively infinite Daemonforge, though they have to take another roll per turn for damage.  They can also make an extra 60" pre-deployment move.  They can then make an out-of-sequence Vector Strike that can't force morale tests if they cause casualties and forfeit the ability to Vector Strike for the first turn, though they can still shoot.  USeful?  Well, it'll at least let them live a little longer.

*'''Legionnaire Warband (Apocalypse)''' - A Chaos Lord grabs a 3+ Troops, 2+ Elites, and any number of HQ, Fast Attack, and Heavy Support choices.  Everyone must take Veterans of the Long War and the same Mark of Chaos.  They can also re-roll failed to-hit melee attacks against Space Marines and Fearless within 12" of the Marines.

*'''Lords of the [[Black Crusade]] (Apocalypse)''' - Abaddon gets to lead Kharn, Lucius, Ahriman, and Typhus (or their equally marked Chaos Lords).  For this, they get to use all their Finest Hour/Sons of their Primarch abilities at once.  Also, Abaddon can make a Magma Storm Unnatural Disaster and become the Master of Disaster.

*'''Lost and the Damned (Apocalypse)''' - 1+ Dark Apostles can use 3+ Cultists, giving them Infiltrate, FNP and Furious Charge (for Cultists), and can resurrect a single cultist during each break for free.

*'''Thousand Sons War Coven (Apocalypse)''' - Ahriman (Or a ML3 Tzeentch Sorcerer) with 3+ additional Sorcerers get to use a new Warp Charge power called ''Storm of Change''.  It's a 48" Witchfire with S:D and AP1, Assault X, Blast, and Vortex.  It also sacrifices Sorcerers for pieplates, making it very risky to use. Alternatively, just activate all of their force weapons with one power, then throw a huge unit of them at anything. That thing will die, no ifs, no buts. Or, it's a fucking Titan, in which case you're fucked anyway.

*'''Tide of Spawn (Apocalypse)''' - 5+ Chaos thingies get to swarm up.  They can't be used as normal, instead replacing an equal number of normal, unengaged infantry models.  Other than that, they're no different from any normal ones. If you have the money and time and are a massive troll, take a squad of 35 cultists.... replace with these and watch as a literal tide of flesh smashes into that greentide or tyranid swarm of gaunts. Your opponents face will drop when they see that a measly cultist squad manages to wipe their way through their entire formation.

===Warzone Pandorax===
*'''The Chosen of Abaddon (Apocalypse)''' - 3-5 Chaos Lords or Sorcerers all get to take permanent retinues of Chosen or Termies, all without champions.  The Lords all get a bonus boon by just forming up, and when within 12" of Lord Topknot, they get Fearless, making them a bigger shield for big A. Combo with Bringers of Despair, and get your Black Legion first company rolling.

*'''Daemon Engine Pack (Apocalypse)''' - 3-5 Forgefiends or Maulerfiends.  They get Preferred Enemy against one chosen enemy and when they kill it, they get a 1 VP. They can also choose a Warpsmith to be their owner and any engines within 12" of the smith get to use his WS and BS(BS5 Forgefiends? Yes, please!), making the Daemon Engine army more useful.  They also get to charge after running, which is very awesome.

*'''The Hounds of Huron (Apocalypse)''' - A Biker Lord gets to lead 5+ Biker packs.  In a move that could make Marine biker armies take note, the formation gets Acute Senses and Outflank, and bikers within 12" of the Lord get to charge after Turbo-Boosting, which is definitely some good speed.

*'''Maelstrom of Gore (Apocalypse)''' - Kharn (or a Khornate Lord) has to take 8 8-man Berzerker packs for blood and skulls.  Anyone within 18" of the Lord/Kharn get Fleet, Move Through Cover, and +3" Charge Range, making this a better way to deliver the forces of blood.  However, they're still not gonna be able to hit any better.

*'''Trinity of Blood (Apocalypse)''' - A squad made of 3 Lords of Skulls.  The first kinda meh rule is the ability to grant Rage to absolutely everything that is not a vehicle within 12" of a member here, which would only be useful in certain situations (Orks, Nids, Guardsmen) and otherwise useless unless you took Cultist Blobs, which then give you a problem.  The other less problematic rule is the ability to force all enemies within 24" of them to take Dangerous Terrain tests before moving unless they can fly.


===Crimson Slaughter===
*'''Requirements:''' No Veterans of the Long War. Previously, this rule simply said that you could not ''buy'' the VotLW upgrade -- anything that had it stick (like Kharn) got to keep it. Now it says that no unit in the CS army can HAVE VotLW. The wording isn't clear; it can either mean that your units lose that rule if they happen to have it, or, more likely, that you can't buy those units to begin with. This means no Special Characters, no Rubricae, and, worst of all, no Daemon Princes - and [[Derp|no Vrosh Tattersoul]]. Anyway, Noise Marines, Berzerkers, and Plague Marines are excluded from this rule.
**'''Alternate View''': The Daemonheart still says it can't be taken on Daemon Princes, which would only be possible if they could be taken as units in the first place. An FAQ is needed, but RAI would seem to indicate that it was meant to use the old rules.

*'''Benefits:'''
**'''Harbingers of the Tormented''': ''All models'' in the detachment have Fear. Yes, that includes vehicles. And cultists.
**'''Slaves to the Voices''': Possessed are troops instead of elites, and they roll on a different mutations table from the one in the Codex, gaining either Shrouded (includes their vehicle if they're in one), Beasts, or a 3+ invul save and Rending. The new mutations table is flat out better than the old one, and having Objective Secured makes them seriously worth considering. (This makes the Favoured of Chaos formation very interesting; on the one hand, if Daemon Princes are allowed, it becomes akin to god mode, while if not, it is a toy they never get to use

====Warlord Traits====

*'''1: Murderous Hate''': Warlord and his unit have Hatred, and get to re-roll misses in CC against Dark Angels units (because Dark Angels needed more help dying).
*'''2: Maelstrom of Torment''': All enemy units within 12" of the Warlord suffer a -1 Ld penalty, and a -2 Ld penalty to any Fear tests they take. Anything vulnerable to Fear left in this game is going to fail those tests anyway, but whatever. MoS will destroy those cheesy Eldar.
*'''3: Maddened Rage''': Rage and Furious Charge. If there's an enemy unit within 12" in the beginning of a shooting phase, you don't get to shoot and must charge them the following Assault phase, if possible. Unfortunate if your Warlord is shooty, pretty sweet otherwise.
*'''4: Merciless Slaughterer''': Warlord and his unit have Crusader.
*'''5: Spectral Assailants''': Enemy models in base contact take D6 S3 AP hits at Initiative step 10 of each Assault phase. (note that EACH enemy model will take D6 hits, which can be quite a few additional dice.)
*'''6: Pall of Mists''': Warlord gets Shrouded. Pretty good if you're not already getting it from a Mutation roll (see below)
====Relics====

*'''Crozius of the Dark Covenant''': A replacement power maul for the Dark Apostles. All friendly Crimson Slaughter units within 6" of the bearer get the Zealot rule. Cute if you want your Zealot to hang in the back and ensure your Havocs stay put, or you could use it for "Go to Ground/Get Back Into The Fight" shenanigans.
*'''Blade of the Relentless''': Basically a power sword that makes its bearer stronger as he kills shit. 1 kill grants +1 Str, 3 kills grants AP2, 5 kills grants another +1 Str, and 10 kills grants Instant Death. Have a Sergeant take the challenge for at turn so you can kill off some grunts then take over when he dies or 'glorious intervention' into his place with a AP2 +1 strength sword. The wording of the relic says that models removed as a direct result of the bearer's close combat attacks. This means that attacks with other weapons or other sources belonging to the model that count as close combat will also count towards charging the sword. Powerfist/claw combo, icy aura boon, Spectral Assailants warlord trait, hammer of wrath, and combat familiars all count towards the total. And with the way wound allocation works with challenges now in 7th, you no longer have to worry about only getting a single "kill charge" from winning a challenge.
*'''The Slaughterer's Horns''': Furious Charge, Rage and Hammer of Wrath for 15 points. Very good for non-khorne HQs, but largely wasted on anything with MoK and icon of wrath. However, in a dual god themed army this presents a great way to have multiple gods/marks represented on a single character.
*'''The Balestar of Mannon''': Sorcerers only. Allows the bearer to roll on Divination and re-rolls on failed Psych tests. However, he doesn't get any modifiers to Deny the Witch rolls for being a Psyker. in the current edition this becomes a really interesting tool and effectively replaces the spell familiar since you can only re-roll dice once.
** RAW: He does not get the modifier for ''being a psyker'', but does he get the modifier for being at a higher Mastery Level than the other Psyker?
*'''Daemonheart''': 2+ Armor Save and It Will Not Die. Can't be taken by a Daemon Prince, which limits its usefulness somewhat. Terminator armour comes with a 5++ invulnerable save, a power weapon and combi bolter for only 10 more points, but remember it strips you from grenades and the ability to perform Sweeping Advances. Take this with a Nurgle Lord on a Palanquin or bike and watch the fat fuck soak up rounds like nobody's business, and then just regain a wound next turn.
**'''Final Consensus''': Any self respecting chaos lord will have at least a 4++, and a Chaos Lord's one advantage over a Space Marine captain is that you can load up on weapons and relics. Thus, the Daemonheart IS BETTER THAN TERMINATOR ARMOUR in every way that matters, unless you really, really want that relentless (get a bike) or a chainfist. Everything else can be replaced with equal or better equivalents anyway. Just, TAKE IT!!!
*'''Prophet of the Voices''': Makes your IC a Possessed, basically. He gets Daemon, Fearless and Fleet, plus rolls on the new mutations table mentioned previously. Can only join units of Possessed of the Crimson Slaughter. Allows for some really rapetastic combos, especially if you roll lucky on the Warlord Traits and Mutations tables, though the choice between going solo and having a posse of Possessed is pretty limiting.
**Note: Having the Daemon rule means you can benefit from Cursed Earth, giving your sorcerer/lord a 3++ with a sigil.

====Crimson Slaughter Formations====

*'''The Ravagers -''' One unit of Possessed plus one unit of Chosen makes the Ravagers, granting them Sight of the Third Eye. So long as the Chosen Champion is alive, one of these units gets re-rolls to hit for the duration of your turn. Sadly, this means no re-rolls in the enemy combat phase.
*'''Disciples of Mannon -''' One Sorcerer and a unit of Possessed that hope the Stars are Right! Roll a pair of dice at the start of the game; they are your portents of DOOOOM. Anytime your opponent rolls EXACTLY two dice (example: a Leadership check, for example) check to see if it matches your portents. If there's a match, FUN happens! You roll a further d6, and on a 1-3 you get 10 Horrors, 4-5 3 Screamers or Flamers, and a 6 gets you a Herald (BAD) or a Lord of Change (GOOD). They immediately pop up within 18 of the Sorcerer. If he bites a bullet, no Tzeentchian fun for you.
*'''Brethren of the Dark Covenant -''' A Dark Apostle, a unit of Possessed (notice a theme here?) and 1-3 units of marines make up this mean bunch. The Dark Apostle can elect not to shoot in the shooting phase, and can instead RAEG. This inspires the formation within 12 of him, granting those within the bubble Zealot and Feel no Pain. Add this to Nurgle Chaos marines and congratulations you have Plague marines on the cheap.
*'''Cult of Slaughter -''' Another formation lead by a Dark Apostle. This time he drags along 2-8 mobs of Cultists to be glorious meatshields. If the cultists are within 9 of the Apostle, they get leadership 10. The real treat is that in your movement phase, d6 cultists are restored to each mob within 18 of the Apostle, up to their original starting number. They bring back any marks or heavy weapons lost as well. Not too shabby.
*'''Lords of Slaughter -''' A Chaos Lord, a unit of Termies, yet another unit of Possessed, and 1-3 Marine squads make up this formation. A simple but powerful formation, the Lord becomes a Mastery 1 Psyker with the Prescience divination power. Additionally, when targeting members of this formation, the power has infinite range.
*'''Kranon's Helguard -''' Basically the Dark Vengeance and Expansion army. A Lord, 1 unit of Chosen, 1 unit of Termies, 2 units of Cultists, 1 unit of Raptors, a Helbrute and a Land Raider. Everyone gets Stubborn, and any enemy within 12 of a unit from the formation gets -1 Leadership. If they are within 12 of two or more units, they suffer -1 Ballistic Skill as well!
*'''The Red Onslaught -''' A formation of formations. Bring all of the above! Each formation keeps its own rules, but two universal rules come into play. The Maddening Horde gives a -1 Leadership to all enemies on the battlefield, so long as 1 model is still standing. Easier said than done; remember all those possessed? At the start of each of your turns, roll a d6. On a 4+, any and every unit of Possessed that was destroyed from this formation Deep Strikes back onto the field. If they are destroyed again, they can come back again, and again! The train has no brakes!

===The Purge (Forgeworld)===
An FOC from the IA:Vraks book, that also can be filled by Chaos Space Marines as well as the Vraksian Renegades. This detachment requires 1 HQ and 2 Elites, with the option for an additional HQ up to 4 additional Elites, 8 Troops, 4 Heavy Support and a Fortification. You don't get any Fast Attacks, and the formation cannot take '''any''' Marks other than Nurgle. In exchange, any Missile Launchers in the detachment can take Chemical Rockets, and any flamer weapons can be swapped for Chemical Flamers for free. Chemical Rockets are AP 5 Frag Missiles with Shred and Gets Hot, and Chemical Flamers are regular Flamers with Shred & Gets Hot. Not bad! There's a second bonus that any Barrage weapons from this Formation leave Dangerous terrain markers, but Chaos Marines don't get any barrage weapons anyway outside of Forgeworld, and the FW options they do get are expensive!
*Although this is nominally a Nurgle formation, there is no requirement to actually take any models with Marks in it. The big thing this formation allows you to do is bypass a Troop tax altogether and just cram in Elites/Heavy Supports in a way normal Chaos armies can't do. Whether you want to run mass Chosen without paying for Abaddon/the Veterans tax from Black Legion, whether you want to do solo Obliterator/Mutilator MSU builds, or whether you just want to add a bunch of Walkers to another army/play Chaos Mechwarrior, this formation allows surprising amount of flexibility.
*Though it probably was '''not''' intended and was probably a rules oversight, there is nothing preventing you from taking Daemons or vehicle Dedications of another Chaos God. For example, you could use this formation to run Blood Slaughterers if you were so inclined. 
*The detachment is decent and fluffy, yes, but losing out on all those hard-hitting and cool Nurgle Fast Attack options (Heldrakes, Spawn, Bikers, and ''Blight Drones'', ironically) really does hurt - especially in maelstrom missions where zipping around the board to capture an objective helps a lot. Depending on what you want to do with the list, you can either go "all in" with the army theme, or supplement it with additional formations; the Heldrake Terror Pack from Traitor's Hate gives your Drakes back, while the Daemonkin Gorepack gives durable speed to round you out nicely. You could always just use Termicide for your mandatory Elites, and use the Heavy Support to spam Maulerfiends...
**You could still grab your cheaper, zippier Assault Vehicle DTs (Dreadclaws), maybe even a couple Kharybdis, and just burninate your Chosen and Dreads into position. Or, if you have loads of cash and don't mind being [[That Guy|that guy]], buy an Air Superiority Detachment full of Assault Pods and cackle as your Wings of pods descend and burn in perfect formation right when you need them to (and now you have some ObSec to boot, just remember that the hull should be no more than 3 inches off of the tabletop.).
**If you really do need some fast infantry and were using this detachment without marks consider making your guys Night Lords. They can take Raptors as troops, giving you a (very) little something of your fast attack back.
*The wording is such that you can take '''both''' renegades, AND Chaos Marines! Have fun with hoards of zombies marching in front of your Plague Marines as artillery obliterates anything strong enough to inconvenience those fat asses. Actually, the consensus on the matter is that mixing and matching units from the two codices is not allowed. There seems to be no official errata on the matter, but a couple of e-mail replies from FW state that it shouldn't be done - which means that you can probably get away with it, if your opponent looks the other way, but don't count on doing so in a more strict setting. Take Typhus - you get no uberzombies, but his regular ones are good enough. Or take a Helcult with MoN.